Klaasen's retirement from international cricket looked imminent two months ago
The writing was on the wall. There wasn’t much noise around Heinrich Klaasen’s playing time with South Africa when he was left out of Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) central contracts list for the 2025-26 season announced in early April.
Previously, if a player was left out of the national Board’s annual contracts, it meant he will go through the grind of domestic cricket and prove his case for international selection. Except for the BCCI, which doesn’t allow its contracted players to play elsewhere, other Boards have left it to the players to decide on their own feasibility.
Because the lucrative contracts in the T20 leagues’ Merry-Go-Round meant one could survive outside the benefits of a Board contract. For a swashbuckler like Klaasen, there is no shortage of suitors.
If Kieron Pollard, at 38, can ply his trade in the International League T20 (ILT20), then a 33-year-old Klaasen will not have any trouble finding gametime and big paychecks for years to come. Having called time on his Test career after just four years in January this year, Klaasen’s priorities were clear.
While CSA had been anticipating this, they still have little time to mould the next best finisher for South Africa in T20Is. The potential candidates are numerous but the line-up and playing XI have to be settled by February, 2026 if they are to make back-to-back T20 World Cup finals.
Without Klaasen offers South Africa to experiment their options but there are currently two options readily visible. Tristan Stubbs and Dewald Brevis.
For all the talent that has come to the limelight through SA20, Klaasen is still is the best Proteas finisher batting between No. 5 and 7 in the world. Since in the last 24 months, Klaasen has piled on 1,526 runs at a strike rate of 162 across four different leagues and in T20Is.
Stubbs is not very far away from him as he has 62 T20s under his belt and has scored 1,329 runs at a strike rate of 152. The 24-year-old is calm under pressure and even though as not explosive as Klaasen, he can finish games with ease thanks to gifted strokeplay. It was apparent in the tied IPL 2025 match against Rajasthan Royals in Delhi where Stubbs was picked to bat in the Super Over and smashed his first ball for a six to win the match for Delhi Capitals.
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Despite facing 140 balls less than DC’s highest runscorer KL Rahul, Stubbs has 300 runs from 12 innings at a strike rate of 150 and an average of 50. Even though he is not a like-for-like replacement for Klaasen, Stubbs is the right balance of silk and steel for South Africa.
Dewald Brevis, despite his reputation as a top-order maverick, is equally destructive in the lower middle-order. He averages 27 while batting at No.5 in 13 T20s and has hit 25 off his career tally of 126 sixes while walking in at three-wickets down.
His recent performances for Chennai Super Kings further pushed for his national team selection – not just for a single series like his debut against Australia but as a T20I regular.
But there is an adjustment South Africa needs to make for Brevis. The 22-year-old batting lower than No.5 is like sacrificing a strong foundation for a fancy roof. Brevis has scored more than 50% of his runs in T20s while batting in at No.3 and No.4 and moving him one position below that means the Proteas will have to sacrifice a fluid middle order to accommodate Brevis.
Then there is Donovan Ferreira who has been water under the bridge with his consistent performances in the lower-middle order across six competitions. At 26, Ferreira is also a great investment for the future as he can hammer and tongs from the get go. In the last two years, right-hander has piled on 1,009 runs from just 612 balls he faced in 46 innings all while batting in the lower-middle order at a stunning strike rate of 165. During this while, he smashed 67 sixes, which is more than his count of 62 boundaries.
Losing Klaasen to the allure of T20 leagues is a rough blow for the Proteas but with a good number of options, they still continue their batter-heavy, big-hitting approach into the next World Cup.
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